The towers shown above in post 7 are just place holders. No final designs for any of the towers have been released, so there's plenty of time to change some elements of those largely glass boxes to make them more interesting. I'm just happy that this is showing an increasing amount of life.

I'm not hoping for a 2000 foot tall building, but something with a little more vision then this. At least a "signature office tower." The ones proposed now are uninspiring and just plain dull. The residential buildings look fine to me, and I'm glad they differ (at least conceptually).

A signature tower or two was actually one of the requirements of the railyards site planning. But keep in mind that there will be 1,000 + ft towers directly north of this and we have yet to see any designs for the railyard towers.

However, I do expect the concept of Related's office towers (3 overall) to be similar to the Time Warner Center. There will be a large retail base, followed by offices, and finally topped by residential (25 floors of residential for the first tower).

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

With an eye on readying the “terra firma” portion of Hudson Yards—that is, site development that doesn’t entail building a platform over the Long Island Rail Road’s Far West Side tracks—Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group said Thursday they’re beginning preparatory work.

The first step will be the demolition of the circa-1930s Metals Purchasing Building, a process that a Related spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com will cost $2 million and take around four months. Tishman Construction Corp. is managing the deconstruction.

Jay Cross, president of Related Oxford Hudson Yards, tells GlobeSt.com the terra firma segment of the 26-acre development site would likely represent the best option for delivering a building “for a tenant that wants to be in by a certain time. Since it’s the site that could be delivered the most quickly, we felt it was the site that should be prepared the earliest.”

Additionally, Cross says the 60,000-square-foot Metals Purchasing Building straddles Hudson Yards and the next segment of the High Line, the elevated park being built on disused railroad right of way. The terra firma segment of the Hudson Yards site had also been used until recently as a staging area for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s ongoing Water Tunnel No. 3 project. “They’ve finished their work, they’ve cleared out and now we can move in and use it as a staging area,” he says.

Much of the site will be built on a platform over the LIRR’s tracks, which are in daily use by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, from which Related Oxford is leasing the site. With factors such as ventilation and life safety issues being taken into account, “we feel the platform design is really starting to come together, and our intention is to go back into the construction marketplace early in 2011 to test our assumptions,” says Cross.

The idea is to finalize the platform design during the course of next year, he adds, so that construction on the platform could begin as early as 2012. “That’s predicated on the assumption that we would reach our first major tenant deal” next year and therefore be in a position to have to start work in ’12.

To date, that first major tenant hasn’t materialized, although the New York Post reported last month that luxury goods maker Coach Inc. is considering the site. “First and foremost, our challenge is in getting the word out that the Yards are ready to go,” says Cross.

He notes that the Number 7 subway line extension to the Far West Side is on schedule to be completed by 2014, and as for Hudson Yards itself, “all of our agreements are in place with the MTA and all of our approvals are in place with the city. Really, there’s nothing contingent on our starting except securing tenants. That’s news to a lot of people.” Once it’s more generally known, Cross predicts it will get tenant momentum going.

“In particular, the large user market is realizing that there aren’t great chunks of space available,” he says. “And for these large users, the lead times are considerable, because they’re moving a lot of employees. For anyone looking at a lease expiry in 2015, 2016 or 2017, all of a sudden we’ve become a pretty viable option.”

Related Oxford will not be obligated to close on the deal with the MTA, and start paying its 99-year lease, until Midtown’s office availability rate declines to 11%, apartment sale prices reach an average $1,200 per square foot and the AIA Architectural Billings Index hits 50. The latter two of those triggers have already been met, as Cross noted during a RealShare New York panel discussion in October. As for Midtown’s availability rate reaching the contractual threshold, Cross says it’s reasonable to expect that to happen “during the next nine to 15 months.”

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

I have a feeling that the owners of the Empire State Building would complain even more now with 15 Penn Plaza and the Hudson Yards Projects designed as supertalls. The view of the Empire State Building would be blocked now.

I have a feeling that the owners of the Empire State Building would complain even more now with 15 Penn Plaza and the Hudson Yards Projects designed as supertalls. The view of the Empire State Building would be blocked now.

i doubt it, if city council would back Malkin for one tower why would they back his argument and stop New York's last frontier for commerce from commencing?

__________________New York City,The City That Never Sleeps,The Capitol Of The World,The Big Apple,The Empire City,The Melting Pot,The Metropolis,Gotham

I have a feeling that the owners of the Empire State Building would complain even more now with 15 Penn Plaza and the Hudson Yards Projects designed as supertalls. The view of the Empire State Building would be blocked now.

These buildings would be further away, 15 Penn Plaza is much closer to the ESB. But the ESB's owner (Malkin) complained because the City had to give the 15 Penn Plaza tower a bonuse to make it larger. Everything in the Hudson Yards will be built as large as the City zoned it.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

Hudson Yards is as-of-right. There's no needed city approvals. If a developer wants to build a super-tall, he can go right ahead.

The Vornado Penn Plaza tower required City Council approval, and so was a totally different situation. It sailed through quite easily, though. I don't think there was really much controversy. NYC is a media hothouse, and anything like this will generate press from naysayers, but it doesn't mean that something like this was super-controversial.

Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group, general partner developers of the 26-acre Hudson Yards in midtown Manhattan, have entered into contract to begin preparatory work for the development of Hudson Yards.

The demolition of the existing Metals Purchasing Building represents the first physical work on the site and the first step in the site work preparation necessary for the development of the Yards. This deconstruction process, managed by Tishman Construction Corporation, is expected to take four months time and paves the way for construction of the first buildings on terra firma, which could commence as early as 2012.

Terra firma buildings could be delivered as soon as 2015 pending tenant commitments.

The developers have also recently wrapped the site in nearly 30,000 square feet of new construction signage, one of the largest construction hoarding installations ever undertaken, and launched a web presence at www.hudsonyardsnewyork.com touting the creation of "New York's Next Great Neighborhood."

"Over 65 percent of Manhattan's office stock is over 50 years old and New York City needs the modern, green, high-tech office space that only we can provide at Hudson Yards in order to retain our competitive advantage in the global market for corporate tenants," Stephen M. Ross, Chairman and CEO of Related Companies said.

The 60,000 square foot Metals Purchasing Building was originally constructed in the 1930s in the freight yards that operated as part of the railroad system along Manhattan's west side. This railroad supported the pier operations and transported goods up and down the west side. The Metals Purchasing Building was used to process, manufacture, and distribute various metal products. The building was also used for processing and manufacturing various metal products. When the demand for the metals operation no longer existed the building was converted to office space and used for back-office type operations. About 20 years ago the building was acquired by MTA by eminent domain and subsequently vacated.

Key transportation investments are underway throughout the area around Hudson Yards including the extension of the Number 7 subway line. The No. 7 subway will link the site to both local and regional rail transportation. This subway line connects Hudson Yards to the major subway nodes of Times Square, Bryant Park, and Grand Central Terminal.

The $2.1 billion subway extension is fully funded and under construction. Crews have finished digging the tunnels and are currently building the new station at the 34th Street and 11th Avenue that will be at the front door to Hudson Yards. The project is on budget and on schedule. The transit system testing will begin in 2013 and a grand opening is anticipated by the first quarter of 2014, at least a year before the first phase of Hudson Yards is opened.

__________________NEW YORK. World's capital.

“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

related wants the highline spur removed. i heard them say so myself at a highline meeting. it's something to keep a vigilant eye on. otherwise, glad to hear this almost unbelievably massive project is officially underway!

Thanks for the update. I always forget how incredibly massive this development truly is. The towers in the last photo are huggeeeee, 1 Penn Plaza is a 750 footer and looks tiny. It's fantastic to see some actual work on this project has started or will very shortly. Us NYers are so spoiled.

The towers just look like massing models to obviously give an idea of height/skyline impact.

But my question here is this....

As this is the part of the Island that hasn't (till now apparently) built vertical owing almost exclusively to bedrock depth, what is the intended approach, particularly foundation-wise? Just digging really deep? Lighter superstructure material i.e., aluminum?

Sorry to steer the thread like this; but I am interested in knowing..and being corrected if I'm wrong .

Actually that answer would be laying 8,000 miles away in Tokyo, Japan. In Tokyo the bedrock is 1 mile and a half feet down. So instead of digging to bedrock, and they are building in a earthquake zone they would bore several holes into the ground and pour concrete into them, then they would pour a solid concrete layer on top, and in total it would be as strong as bedrock itself.

As this is the part of the Island that hasn't (till now apparently) built vertical owing almost exclusively to bedrock depth, what is the intended approach, particularly foundation-wise? Just digging really deep? Lighter superstructure material i.e., aluminum?

This site is mostly a rail yard (well below grade; basically a trench).

So the reason it hasn't been developed is because it doesn't really exist yet.

Also, the entire neighborhood had the wrong zoning. Developers have been sitting on land for many years, just waiting for the neighborhood to be rezoned.

As for foundations, modern day engineering can build a skyscraper anywhere. Bedrock isn't really important. If anything, it makes skyscraper construction more expensive.